[rollei_list] OT: A Non-Regrettable Non-Absence
- From: Marc James Small <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:23:02 -0400
At 10:01 PM 9/2/2010, Roger Beverage wrote:
Marc;
At least when you return, you can say you have been as far from home
as possible but still in the U.S. I hope you enjoy your visit here
and hope where you are going is north of Portland. We natives
consider anything south of there as a suburb of Boston. Once the
hurricane gets out of the way and temperatures normalize, it is a
lovely place, even in the snows of winter.
Thank God, I was spared from going. For 52 years, I have had my arm
twisted to go to Maine. I am a contrarian: tell me I "must" do
something and I will do my damnedest NOT to do it. And I never lost
a single thing in Bangor, Maine. I don't even like Stephen
King. And I DETEST travel. I am a control freak and do NOT want to
put my dogs in a kennel, for instance. If I cannot take them, then I
want to stay home. Placid, peaceful, quiet home. Ten miles from the
Class VI store at Fort Lee and so forth. All very decent, quiet, and
comfortable.
I did want to catch up with two long-term friends in Manchester, NH,
but one is tied up with a family illness and the other has a family
obligation taking him to Texas this weekend. So, things seem to have
worked out decently in that regard.
I have known some really nice people from Maine. They all assure me
that the nimrods have stayed behind and that the sane ones have all
moved out. Given the state of Maine politics, I suspect that that is
quite true. I am certain that Maine has very pretty parts but, then,
so does Virginia, and I can see those on a day trip. The only thing
I really wanted to visit in Maine is the principal LL Bean store in Freeport.
Hurricane Earl! (I have lived through hurricanes all over the east
coast, especially in Connecticut and Virginia -- hurricanes I do know
despite my reluctance to visit Florida. Camille and Agnes and Juan
and Hugo and Isabel and ... You have not lived until you've had to
negotiate a 40-hp VW through a flooded intersection, reving the
engine WAY up to keep the water from coming up the tail pipes. But
that was back in the Longago.) Earl is bouncing off the Barrier
Islands (my best friend was vacationing there, and I am certain that
she has left to return to Roanoke). It will not affect my part of
Virginia -- we MIGHT have a light rain before dawn, though this is
along the lines of a 5% probability. Tomorrow will be hot and humid
and then a cold front passes through, and our highs drop by ten
degrees. Early fall weather -- and low humidity!
I live just south of Richmond Virginia. Maine SEEMS impossibly far
from Virginia, but it is not. Hawaii and Alaska are MUCH further (it
is easier to fly to Alaska than to fly to Maine, but that is a
discussion for a different day). Miami is about as far from Richmond
as is Maine (no, I have never been to Florida, either, and I doubt
that I ever shall -- having been raised in California, I have it in
my viscera that visiting Florida is an invitation to disaster, from
Hurricanes and a zillion other things). Everything west of Chicago
is further from Richmond than is Maine. Boise, Idaho. Seattle,
Washington. Phoenix, Arizona. Tulsa, Oklahoma. All are a lot
farther than Maine. And Maine is stuck up there with Canada -- Maine
and Canada are still fighting over some islands, relics from the War
of 1812, and I believe Michigan is doing the same. (To date: Maine
0, Michigan 1, but the locals keep stirring things up, so what do I know?)
The cooler weather will benefit my two yard tortoises, Sulcatas, as
they do not do very well with humidity. These guys are captive-born
descendants of the largest continental tortoises, who reside normally
in the Sahel Desert in Africa. We have had two months of
excruciatingly hot weather but it has been humid. They will do
better with drier air. All anapsids (turtles and tortoises) have a
weak respiratory system, and they are subject to pneumonia, even the
ones who live in water. (I also have an Eastern Mud Turtle and a
Musk Turtle and an African Side-Necked Mud Turtle. I know these
puppies: the Eastern Mud Turtle I hatched from an egg in '81 and the
Musk Turtle I got right out of the egg in '84. Evinrude, the East
African Side-Necked Mud Turtle, is a more recent addition, but, yes, he is CB.
Anapsids are akin to dogs: they love to have the back of their
skulls rubbed. You have to be careful: I have had a number of
snappers, but have never been brave enough to try that on THEM. But
it strikes my next-door neighbor, who watches over the Lawn Tortoises
when I am gone, that the big one, Franklin (24 inches long? 35
pounds?) will rub up against my leg when I rub his neck.
I have two Sulcatas. These guys peak out at around 100 pounds and
live for around a century. I have already warned my son to warn HIS
grandkids of the impending Family Heritage!
In any event, I stayed in Richmond, Virginia, this center of culture
and elegance.
Marc
---
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